B.M. asks from Milford, MI on September 13, 2007
Switching from Bottle to Sippy Cup.
I have a wonderful son that just turned 1 Sept.1. I have tried several times to switch him over to the sippy cup. What is the easiest way to do this? I put his formula in the sippy cup and he still does not want it. I have also tried 5 different cups. I do not want my son to be drinking from the bottle forever.Do I just do it cold turkey and take the bottles away for good? What if he doesn't eat enough? I don't want him to scream because he is hungry and refuses to drink the cup. When I took him off his binky i did it cold turkey and after a couple of days he forgot all about it. Any help would be great! It is very frustrating!
So What Happened?™
I want to thank everyone for the responses. I would like to say that he is off the bottle and on the nuby sippy cups!!! Horray!!
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D.C. answers from Detroit on February 10, 2008
My oldest daughter will soon be 40 and when I was trying to switch her to a sippy cup, I used it for juice etc. The bottle only was for milk. She soon discovered that the boring stuff was in the bottle and the "fun" stuff was in the cup. And I had 3 daughters and used it for all of them. Also all of the grandchildren were brought up the same way.
K.C. answers from Benton Harbor on September 15, 2007
If its the sippy cup with the 1 way valve, take it out. Take the valve out so that the milk comes out easily and he notices that milk is in there. That is what I did and before long you can put the valve back in. Also, try the ones with a softer tip at first.
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L.S. answers from Detroit on September 14, 2007
HI
when switchig my son to the sippy cup I used a cup called nuby it has a very soft nub and worked great for him.
N.W. answers from Detroit on September 13, 2007
Have you tried the Nuby cups? They are the most similar to bottles and have a flexible tip. I thought they were the best. Sippy cups are actually really really hard to drink out of (have you tried?). I just took the bottle away at 1 and gave my son sippy cups- mostly the Nuby. I was sure he could drink out of them. After a few days he stopped fussing. As long as you are confident he can actually drink out of the sippy cup/Nuby if he wants to- I would go cold turkey. He will drink if he is hungry/thirsty.
J.S. answers from Detroit on September 14, 2007
My son did the same thing, although mine wouldn't even take a bottle. I found that the Nu^by brand was the best for him to start with. They have a really soft spout that is very easy to suck on. After he got the hang of that I switched to Playtex’s soft spout which is semi hard and semi soft, after that we have moved on to the really hard ones and he is doing great with those.
Good Luck!
R.U. answers from Detroit on September 14, 2007
Our son never took to sippy cups. He's 21 months old now and still won't do sippy cup. I think it was too hard for him to hold up when he was younger. I see kids using them all over the place, so it doesn't seem like an issue for them. He took to a Nuby (I found it at Walmart) which is a cup with a screw on lid that has a plastic flexible straw at the top which flips down. I think Nuby also has the regular sippy cups. The Nuby (straw cup) is a bit of a pain to disassemble and reassemble at first, but you can become a pro at it quite quickly. He also took to the plain old plastic cups with the lids and straws that you can get at Target or Babies R Us in a five pack. We worked our way up to eliminating the bottle, and he took to it quite well. He was a little over a year old at the time. It depends on the baby though.
Best of luck!!
K.C. answers from Benton Harbor on September 15, 2007
If its the sippy cup with the 1 way valve, take it out. Take the valve out so that the milk comes out easily and he notices that milk is in there. That is what I did and before long you can put the valve back in. Also, try the ones with a softer tip at first.
J.W. answers from Detroit on September 14, 2007
Actually, I'm going thru this right now with my 10 1/2 month old daughter. My son was off the bottle by 11 months and I wanted to get my daughter off also. I had to try a few different cups (most of which she used as a chew toy) I found the gerber one with the rubbery top works for her. She's finally got the hang of it and as of yesterday hasn't had a bottle!! I know there is no rush..but honestly I'm sick of bottles..lol! I use the playtex vent air bottles that have 4 parts to them..it gets old!! It took her a few weeks of working on it to get the hang of drinking out of it, but I think we got it down now! My ped recommended slowly phasing out the bottle, put 1 oz in the sippy and 5oz in the bottle. Do that for a week then up the amount in the sippy and lower the amouont in the bottle. Good luck to you!!
L.M. answers from Detroit on September 14, 2007
Switching from the bottle to the sippy cup is a big deal for our little ones...my doctor told me it is more work at first for them to use a sippy cup because it is a different motion/tongue position then they are used to, but if can get rid of the binky then this shouldn't be so hard.
With all 3 of my children I started giving them juice in their cups at about 6 months - since juice is sweet I figured it would be more of an incentive and when they turned 1 the bottles were gone and then they got everything in a sippy cup. it was a bit of a transition, but no one starved. :-) I think it helped that I started the sippy cup earlier.
I am not sure how long you have been giving your son a sippy cup - if you started earlier, like I did, then I would suggest trying it cold turkey. If he hasn't had that much experience with the cup, then I would suggest trying putting his juice in it and gradually putting his milk in it as well and after a few months or sooner if you feel he is ready, then going cold turkey.
Good luck ~
C.R. answers from Kalamazoo on September 14, 2007
I had an easy time with my son....once I found the right cup. Try several, different kids have different preferences. I also found the smaller ones worked better when he was that young. They aren't so heavy and awkward to hold. I never put formula in a cup, and never put milk or juice in a bottle. My son liked the taste of regular milk so much that he was happy taking a cup to get some.
and start with the cup at a happy time of day. Not first thing in the morning, not last before bed. Lunch is a good one.
C., Battle Creek
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